Gardening in Melbourne, Australia.

Did Flemings have the best garden at Chelsea in 2011 ?

By James Wall

Ok,....so I may be biased, but Flemings show garden at Chelsea looked to be best in show, or at least a gold medal, but it was awarded a Silver Gilt. Well ummm, I only actually saw the gardens on Better Homes and Gardens last night, but I did just check out the 360 degree virtual tour on the Royal Horticultural Society website and still reckon it was close to the best.

Flemings garden

Of course best in show went to the Daily Telegraph for the third year in a row, who sponsored the garden designed by Cleve West - referred to by some as the Heston Blumenfeld of landscape design - how very British ! Ok, so it was a few poles with some nice flowers.......now now.

Cleve West - Best In Show

Of course the Australian Garden by The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne took out a Gold and was another feather in the cap for designer Jim Fogarty. It included bright orange sand which looked like it had come from the Simpson Desert. There was also a boomerang shaped water feature to really aussie-fy it.

Jim Fogarty designed Australian Garden

Why did Flemings not win a gold. I am thinking that maybe it was the white canopy - very stylish, but maybe too modern for the RHS crowd. If anyone went to the show, let us know what your thoughts were about seeing it in the flesh.

maybe the structure was too modern

Still, it looked like Wes Fleming was having a pretty good time. He laughed with the queen, talked to the Prince of Monaco and was honoured to meet Fergie's daughter Princess Beatrice.

Wes entertains the Queen

Wes looks honoured to meet Princess Beatrice - both hatless.

Ok, so one of our staff in Justine actually did go to Chelsea, and when she gets back, we will post her review and see what she thinks. And even though Flemings didn't take out a gold, Wes will be back down to earth as we speak, and in a couple of weeks, Flemings Nurseries will once again deliver thousands of bare root fruit and ornamental trees to nurseries all over Australia.